The other thing I wanted to address was about this absolute non-resistence. You still don't get it Eric.
I'll give it to you on two levels
1. Were you to push on me- the more I get out of the way and "I" don't get involved in resisting ...you. the more you feel the ground. I become -for want of a better term- invisible to the current or flow.

Physically, nonsensical. As metaphor, fine.

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Dan Harden wrote:

... you were not "best buds" with Ueshiba- then I say THAT is what he meant by non resistance.

Since I can comfortably say that we are equal in this regard, you don't have that privilege, either... And as to Mike's comment about the Japanese, I stand by my points already made. Joshua made an able stab at supporting your view, but never dealt with the problem of O Sensei's emphasis on tettei muteikou. "complete" or "absolute" non-resistance. To show idiomatic usage that differs he needs, not a dictionary, which only proved my point further, but contextual examples of idiomatic use where 徹底した無抵抗 has actually been used euphemistically to mean something like judou teikou 受動 抵抗. I'll gladly look at anything offered.

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Dan Harden wrote:

Not your version of whirlin and dancin. Giving way and turning like that is the dumbest, lowest level expression of anything beffiting a trained Budo man.

Whirlin'? Dancing'? You plainly have no conception of what it means for radius of turn to go to zero. Real sudden-like.

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Dan Harden wrote:

Ueshiba, were he alive today, would simply not be quite the same "legend."

As you admit, you do not stand for continuing his legacy in aikido. You have something else to offer, and your own vision of fundamentals. Which is, in part, why my criticism approaching these issues from a traditional training standpoint and a plain vanilla mechnical perspective continues to be valid and needed for some differing persective in an aikido forum.

I don't argue my own conceptions in terms of training, but always look for foundation in those points already made by O Sensei, Doshu, or other senior students who have discussed these things. I don't invent mechnical concepts to apply, but apply the commonplace understanding of moving bodies and structural stability to my objective observations.